Various hand-held devices have been developed for assisting music teachers and students to determine the notes and chord combinations associated with each key. These inventions involve different types of wheels, rotating cylinders, vertical and horizontal slides and similar devices. Some of these inventions illustrate fingering combinations for use with a guitar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,029 issued to Nelson is directed to a musical scale-determining device. The device has a thin sheet material body constructed of either paper or plastic or some other rigid material. Printed on the front surface are a number of longitudinally oriented rows of musical notes. Two of the rows are located within an upper section and two of the rows are located in a lower section. Located on the front surface are a series of indicators comprising a pointer that point either to the upper section or the lower section, or both. Located on the back surface of the body are vertical rows of musical notes, again located in an upper section and a lower section. Formed within the back surface of a cursor are a series of transparent windows for observing a single column of three notes within either an upper section or a lower section. This cursor is slidable and is used to determine the major and minor chords for different keys. Within the front surface of the cursor are also located a plurality of windows with identifying indicia as Roman Numerals I–VIII to denote major sharp and flat scales. The cursor is also formed of thin sheet material and forms an internal chamber into which the necked down section of the body is disposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,668,967 issued to Malis, is directed to a chord indicator in the form of a slide rule device. The device is comprised of a first elongated slide, a second elongated slide carried within the first slide, and an outer elongated indicator which is adapted to slidably receive and contain the first and second slides. The first slide is an elongated sleeve, which surrounds the second slide, and indicator is also an elongated sleeve, which surrounds the second slide. The first slide has a series of indexing windows extending completely through the front face at a location near the right end thereof to show corresponding chord type identification.
The front face of the first slide also includes a plurality of apertures along its length, which are substantially equal in size to and are adapted to uncover spots on the second slide. The first slide also has imprinted along the lower edge of its front surface a series of characters, which represent the various notes in the scale. Manipulation of the slides permit identification of the chord name, title or selection of a particular chord, identification of the notes in that chord, the chord type, and other useful musical information.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,031,172, issued to Papadopoulos is directed to music teaching aid. The teaching aid comprises a cylindrical body, the periphery of which is substantially covered by a plurality of reference rings that have independent rotary movement. As seen, each ring is divided into twelve segments, each of which has an identification that represents the successive notes of the chromatic scale. It is seen that appropriate manipulation of these rings with accompanying teaching aids permits one to identify all possible types of scales, major, minor and chord constructions.
U.S. Pat. No. 675,345 issued to Bauer is directed to a music chart circa 1901. It is seen that there is a music chart with a face-plate and a back plate which is ruled longitudinally to form a series of subdivisions or rows to indicate the principal major chords and corresponding minor chords which are identifying through the use of a slider which can be appropriately slidingly displaced to identify major keys, minor key, dominant chords and tonic triads.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,757 issued to Derrick is directed to a universal musical scale, scale pattern, and chord indicator. Device housing is of a slide-rule nature and is generally a hollow envelope-shaped enclosure open at either end and designed to function interdependently with any pre-selected sliding member. A number of sliding members are provided with indicia indicative of the degrees of a musical scale respectively printed adjacent to each display window formed in housing. As seen, the combination of the primary housing with a particular sliding member provides information to identify certain characteristics within musical scales and assist in the identification of chords, tone indicators and other musical qualities.
While other variations exist, the above-described designs for note and chord identifying devices are typical of those encountered in the prior art. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a simple, portable device for use by piano students and teachers to determine the notes of the chromatic scale for each key. It is a further objective to provide a device that indicates the piano keyboard locations for each such note. It is a still further objective of the invention to identify the major and minor chords associated with each key. It is yet a further objective to indicate the keyboard locations of each of the major and minor chords. Finally, it is an objective of the invention to provide the above-described capabilities in an inexpensive and durable device that may be easily and inexpensively manufactured.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.